Employees and visitors to Hacienda Business Park may receive an added bonus if they decide to leave their cars at home.

To beef up commuter bus service to and from the Bay Fair BART station in San Leandro, BART has rerouted its “UP” Express bus. The new route compliments Hacienda’s service to BART.

By combining forces, BART and Hacienda are offering a total of six morning and ten evening trips Monday through Friday between the Park and Bay Fair. The ''UP'' operates on Stoneridge Drive goes through Hacienda Business Park, and makes stop on Santa Rita Road, Valley Avenue and Hopyard Road before returning to the BART Bay Fair station on its morning route. In the evening, it circulates through Pleasanton in the opposite direction.

According to business park manager Karen Fraser-Middleton, Hacienda has been working with BART to coordinate the additional transit service through the business park as part of Pleasanton’s ongoing Transportation Systems Management (TSM) program.

"With the wealth of transit being offered to employees, they are even more likely to leave their cars at home,” she said. In the morning, Hacienda employees can catch the "UP" bus which leaves Bay Fair at 6:20 and 7:13 and arrives at Hacienda at 6:45 and 7:38. During the hours of 3:54 pm and 6:18 pm, the "UP" bus will make five trips between the business park and Bay Fair.

“If an employee wants to stay a little later, he won't have to wait as long for the next bus,” said Karen Fraiser-Middleton

Fares for the BART "UP" bus will be 90 cents, the same as the Hacienda shuttle fares. Passengers can purchase BART three month “Fast Passes” for $72 to ride between Pleasanton and the BART train station.

The two service lines differ slightly in their mutes through the business park. ln the afternoon, the ''UP'' bus enters the park via W. Las Positas Boulevard and follows Willow Road to Stoneridge Drive where it continues on to San Leandro. Employees are picked up at bus stops designated with a BART/AC Transit sign.

Riders can catch the “UP" bus on those three streets only. However, the Hacienda Express will continue to loop around the park as usual, picking up passengers at Gibralter Drive, Inglewood Drive, Stoneridge Drive, Hopyard Road and W. Las Positas Boulevard stops.

According to BART's manager of public affairs Sy Mouber, the “UP” buses will operate “as long as people use them.”

“We'll be watching ridership closely. If it isn’t used, then we’ll have to take another look at it,” he said.

But the business park's transportation manager said, "The "UP" bus route was changed to meet commuter needs.”

To see a reproduction of the original article and edition of Pleasanton Pathways, visit: July 9, 1985.